CHURCH residents have blasted Hyndburn Council for allowing rubbish to build up on their housing estate, attracting rats to their homes.

Christine Lorente, 36, only moved into her council flat on Warwick Close in October last year.

She complained to the council after fly-tippers started dumping rubbish in the backyards of empty neighbouring properties.

But she says it took them six weeks before they came around to clear the rubbish and she still has sheets of asbestos lying in her back yard which have been there for months.

Christine, who has a son Alec, 14, said: "People have been fly-tipping around here and there have been rats in my back garden.

"Two weeks ago I was in hospital for an ear operation and when I came back to the house my cats kept bringing them in and some of them were still alive.

"I was told by the council that it was the tenants' responsibility to keep the properties in order but if there is nobody there then the responsibility falls on the council.

"Since then the council has been to cut the grass and the rubbish has been taken away but it is still disgusting it took six weeks to come. It does grind you down, especially when you have not been very well."

One of her neighbours, Joseph O'Neill, 37, claims rubbish dumped near his home has also been ignored by the council for several weeks.

He said: "It is just beyond a joke with the council as I first reported this problem eight weeks ago. I wasn't getting anywhere and I said if you don't come round to see about it I will get the newspapers involved.

"They were supposed to be coming to see me after they had sorted Christine's problem out but they never came. They seem to think that becasue this is a cul-de-sac we don't exist."

A council spokesman said: "This seems to be a complicated case with seperate amounts of rubbish being dumped on different occasions. However, since the last complaint the rubbish was removed within a couple of weeks."